A website for your business is no longer a luxury — it’s a necessity. But, just because you invested in a website doesn’t mean that it’s effective in connecting with your customers and ultimately improving your sales.

Here are some takeaways:

It’s not mobile friendly: As the mobile revolution continues to grow around the world, this trend toward “on the go digital,” will continue. In other words, internet consumption is moving away desktops and in to the portable devices territory. This means that your business’s website has to be optimized for mobile users.

Contains too much jargon: Unless you’re talking to directly to your fellow industry experts, your average customer isn’t going to understand the technical language or industry jargon. Avoid the jargon and use simple and straight-forward language that your customers can easily understand.

Lacks content: Your customers have a problem. And they’re turning to your website to help them solve said-problem. That’s why your website needs to contain fresh and valuable content that answers real-life questions.

Hides essential information: You’d be surprised at how many businesses still don’t have information such as address or telephone number on their websites. And potential customers may tend to stay from those types of businesses over security or legitimate concerns.

Loads too slowly: Customers expect a website to load quickly. In fact, 47 percent of consumers expect a website to load in just 2 seconds or less.

While there could be numerous reasons why your website isn’t effective, here are 10 of the most common explanations for website fails.

1. It’s not mobile friendly

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to most of us, but for the first time ever mobile and tablet usage surpassed desktop usage. As the mobile revolution continues to grow around the world, this trend toward “on the go digital,” will continue. In other words, internet consumption is moving away desktops and in to the portable devices territory. This means that your business’s website has to be optimized for mobile users.

Unfortunately, there are still lots of websites that aren’t mobile-friendly. This is just bad for business since it can lead to penalties from the Big G (Google), decrease conversation rates and deliver your customers a poor experience.

2. Contains too much jargon

I understand that you’re an expert in your field and that you want to demonstrate your knowledge and authority. But unless you’re talking to directly to your fellow industry experts, your average customer isn’t going to understand the technical language or industry jargon that you use to describe your business throughout your website.

Avoid the jargon and use simple and straight-forward language that your customers can easily understand.

3. Lacks content

Your customers have a problem. And they’re turning to your website to help them solve said-problem. That’s why your website needs to contain fresh and valuable content that answers real-life questions.

Remember, that doesn’t mean that they’re searching for your exact business. For example, our blog contains useful information for freelancers and small business owners. If a person is searching for advice on invoicing and processing payments, they could also land on our site because that’s the type of content we’ve been producing, as well.

In short, start a blog and keep writing awesome content. This will also help boost your SEO and content marketing efforts.

4. Hides essential information

Besides looking for information that will make their lives better, if customers are looking for your specific business, they want to easily locate information like:

The address of your business. If you have a brick and mortar business, include a map link.

Contact information, specifically a phone number and email address.

Social media plugins.

Hours, pricing and an “about us” page.

You’d be surprised at how many businesses still don’t have this information on their websites. And, if you’re like me, you may tend to stay from those types of businesses over security or legitimate concerns.

You can test the speed of your site using tools like Pingdom and GTmetrix. These tools provide insights and advice on how to speed your site-up too.

6. Doesn’t have clear calls-to-action

You don’t want to leave your visitors in the dark by making them guess what you want them to do next on your site. So, give them clear instructions by creating a call to action button or hyperlinked text that is front and center.

HubSpot has 31 call-to-action examples that you should review if you need some inspiration. For instance, Dropbox has a blue “Sign up for free,” call-to-action button that stands out from the rest of the page.

Remember, without these buttons, your potential customers won’t move forward with the services or resources that you’re offering. When that happens, you won’t get those all-important business conversions.

7. It’s outdated

Webpages that are maintained and have a current design build trust and credibility. That doesn’t mean that you need to update your site every month. But, if it’s been years since you’ve had a major website design overhaul, then it’s time to find something more contemporary. The last thing that you want is to have a site that looks like a Geocities page from the late 90s.

8. It’s annoying and cluttered

Believe it or not, that are still businesses that insist on having websites that have music or videos play automatically once your enter the site. Even worse, these sites are also full of banner ads, bright colors and flashy text. These sites are just plain annoying and end-up slowing the page down because it’s so cluttered.

So, how many people are going to ever click on that site again at work — or anywhere else?

Keep in mind that a bulk of your visitors are browsing your site on mobile devices too. This means that you’re site should be clean and organized. Keep information to a minimum and use sub-headings, bullet lists and graphic elements so that visitors can digest this info in smaller chunks.

9. Shopping cart or payment platform is broken

Unless you’re relying on a third party payment gateway or shopping cart, then it’s your responsibility to frequently check to make sure that everything is working properly. You won’t be able to make a sale or receive a payment if your cart or payment processor is busted.

10. You don’t guide users to different pages

A lot of businesses send all their traffic to their website’s homepage, as opposed to relevant links that their customers actually want to land-on. This could be because service pages and other pages of the site are just an afterthought when designing a website. But, the fact of the matter is that the home page isn’t as important to general web traffic and the overall design.

Instead, start creating specific landing pages for the various types of potential customers you encounter and where they are in the sales funnel.

Running pay-per-click (PPC) or other paid ad campaigns can be a tricky business. Many amateur digital marketers, however, make it sound so simple: Choose your target keywords, write text ads, decide on bids, input credit card information, click “go” and wait for your business phone to ring. Unfortunately, this rarely works — and you’ll probably lose hundreds of dollars on this zero-strategy campaign. After all, as Sun Tzuteaches us about battle, “tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”

Here are some takeaways:

Get The Most Out Of The Headlines: The character count for paid ads was previously 25 for the headline and 35 for each of the two description lines (better known as the 25-35-35 rule). Now, Google has gifted us with the additional 45 characters; ads can have two 30-character headlines and one consolidated 80-character description line (30-30-80).

Display Benefits Over Features: Here’s a classic battle in any type of marketing: benefits versus features. In the digital marketing world, many companies fail to use their AdWords budget efficiently simply because their ads focus more on product features — and even worse, they aren’t aware they’re doing it.

Use Single Keyword Ad Groups (SKAGs): Many people bundle more than 10 keywords in a single ad group merely because those keywords fit a common theme and they are led to believe they can achieve a stronger message match by doing so. Message match is when the search terms highly match the words within the ad. When you achieve a message match, your ad becomes instantly more relevant than the other ads on the search engine results page.

While we’re not experts on Sun Tzu’s Art of War, we are rather experienced in paid search marketing and SEO campaigns. In the digital marketing arena, utilizing paid ads or display ads is a tactic that can be effective in the hands of the right craftsperson. Writing ad texts using the correct strategies, for instance, can drive more conversions than before.

When writing ad copies, your mission is to grab the attention of the searchers, provide them the information they need, and eventually persuade them to click on the ad. But what are the strategies you need to employ to achieve that?

Get The Most Out Of The Headlines

The character count for paid ads was previously 25 for the headline and 35 for each of the two description lines (better known as the 25-35-35 rule). Now, Google has gifted us with the additional 45 characters; ads can have two 30-character headlines and one consolidated 80-character description line (30-30-80).

We can’t stress enough that the headlines are the most significant part of your text ads. After all, they look bigger than the description lines, so of course, the users will likely focus on them. So where to put your promo? Headlines. Where to write your value proposition? Headlines. Where should you include the targeted keywords? Headlines. Now that you have two headlines, you have more space for the most important messages you want to deliver. The description lines still include relevant details that could be useful to searchers but you should always remember that the headlines lead the charge to get that click.

Display Benefits Over Features

Here’s a classic battle in any type of marketing: benefits versus features. In the digital marketing world, many companies fail to use their AdWords budget efficiently simply because their ads focus more on product features — and even worse, they aren’t aware they’re doing it.

Let’s go back to “Marketing 101” for a bit. When your ad says that your retail store is open 24 hours, you’re merely describing the store. But when you say that at your store, customers can buy products at any time, you’re answering the searcher’s question, “What’s in it for me?” You’re giving a solution to their need. Features only show what the product can do but benefits show what the product can do for the customers.

While most marketers already know this, many still get confused between these two words. To employ the benefit-focused ad strategy, always put yourself in the shoes of the customers. Check if your ad answers, “What’s in it for me?” and if it doesn’t, revise the ad copy until you satisfy the customer in you. Never forget this: Features tell but benefits sell.

Use Single Keyword Ad Groups (SKAGs)

Many people bundle more than 10 keywords in a single ad group merely because those keywords fit a common theme and they are led to believe they can achieve a stronger message match by doing so. Message match is when the search terms highly match the words within the ad. When you achieve a message match, your ad becomes instantly more relevant than the other ads on the search engine results page.

By simply sticking with one keyword per ad group, you can control the message match between that keyword and the texts in your ad. You can yield better results as only one keyword triggers a specific ad. This is more efficient than bidding on too many keywords for a single ad. And with SKAGs, you can write more strategic, keyword-focused ad texts. Once you master it, you will enjoy the benefit of lower cost per click — it’s a matter of quality over quantity.

Sun Tzu may be the most famous military strategist in the world, but in the digital arena, anyone can be a paid ad strategist. It all boils down to researching and employing the ad writing strategies that can drive more conversions than your competitor’s ads, or simply put, mastering the art of ad copy war.

]]>https://digitalcusp.com/mastering-paid-ads-writing-strategies-that-drive-conversions-2/feed/0The 4 Ps of SEO & digital marketinghttps://digitalcusp.com/the-4-ps-of-seo-digital-marketing/
https://digitalcusp.com/the-4-ps-of-seo-digital-marketing/#respondThu, 10 Aug 2017 17:29:17 +0000http://digitalcusp.com/?p=3188There is more to marketing than just getting highly ranked on search engines, and it took me a while to figure this out. There is value companies can get of more traditional marketing processes related to SEO. Here are some takeaways: Product/service: Who are your customers? What are their goals? What jobs do they have [...]

There is more to marketing than just getting highly ranked on search engines, and it took me a while to figure this out. There is value companies can get of more traditional marketing processes related to SEO.

Here are some takeaways:

Product/service: Who are your customers? What are their goals? What jobs do they have to perform that you could do better? What are their pains? Ultimately, how does your product help your customer? Understanding your customer and how your product relates to their needs is fundamental to your pricing and promotion of your product (or service).

Price: Pricing is fundamental, and you need to carefully consider price points to ensure you can deliver the service but still make a profit. Brand and online reputation will play into this, of course, but most of us are not Apple — so you might be able to pull off being 10 percent more expensive than a competitor if your product is right, but push too hard on the pricing and you will typically lose work.

Place: Where will customers look for your product? Will your customers search for you? Will you generate business through offline channels or in person? Does your marketing mix include a combination of online and offline marketing channels? Determine where your customers are and where you need to be to sell to them.

Promotion: You have to figure out how your marketing, lead generation and sales work together to fine-tune your approach. If you can find some way to provide comparable quality while being measurably the cheapest service, you can likely be aggressive in all channels.

Search engines want to connect people with the best possible results — so user engagement and satisfaction is likely an SEO ranking factor. Certainly, on-page signals and links are still super-important, but these won’t help if users do not engage with your site. SEO is now firmly a part of the overall marketing process, and good marketing will only help improve rankings and drive more traffic.

Respected SEOs are all highly savvy marketers. It’s not enough to focus on delivering more traffic. To do great SEO in 2017 and beyond, you have to be a great marketer.

In this article, we’ll look at the marketing mix and a classic marketing tool known as “the 4 Ps of marketing.” I’ll discuss how you can use this tool to improve your marketing and SEO.

The 4 Ps of marketing

The classic definition of marketing is simply “putting the right product in the right place, at the right price, at the right time.”

Stripping away the complexity can be powerful. The 4 Ps of marketing helps us here by focusing on these four key areas:

Product

Price

Place

Promotion

As it happens, SEO does a lot right by default. When a user searches is certainly the right time, and a search engine is often the right place. Yet, we also have to ensure the product and the price are right as well — after all, there will be a lot of competition on that search engine’s results page. And, of course, there is more to digital marketing than just search engines, however important they may be.

Let’s have a look at each of these four key areas:

Product/service

Who are your customers? What are their goals? What jobs do they have to perform that you could do better? What are their pains? Ultimately, how does your product help your customer? Understanding your customer and how your product relates to their needs is fundamental to your pricing and promotion of your product (or service).

Your product or service is the foundation of your marketing approach. You need absolute clarity here. Price and promotion will all be influenced by your product.

Getting found is only half the battle — you have to convince your prospective customers that your product or service can deliver.

Price

Price is intrinsically tied to value. But price must also consider established price points in your industry. If you are too expensive, your product won’t sell, no matter how desirable. If you are too cheap, profit margins will suffer.

There is something of a pendulum with price, where a lower price will typically generate more sales, but a higher price will generate more profits. You have to find what your perfect balance is here, and that will depend on your marketplace and lead generation strategies.

Pricing is fundamental, and you need to carefully consider price points to ensure you can deliver the service but still make a profit. Brand and online reputation will play into this, of course, but most of us are not Apple — so you might be able to pull off being 10 percent more expensive than a competitor if your product is right, but push too hard on the pricing and you will typically lose work.

If you are an emergency plumber, then people are going to grab their phone and go straight to Google, so that one is fairly obvious. But, for many services, different people will buy in different ways: networking, referrals, search engines and so forth. Determine where your customers are and where you need to be to sell to them.

Promotion

Where will you get your marketing messages in front of your prospective customers?

Search engines? Search ads? Social networks? Online banner advertisements? Press? TV? Direct mail? Billboards? Do you use ads or top-of-the-funnel strategies like content marketing? Do you try to sell, or do you use lead generation and nurturing strategies?

Is time of day a factor? Is there any seasonality in your marketplace? Are there other external factors that can be leveraged to improve your marketing?

What do your competitors do here? Are some channels highly competitive? Where are the opportunities? A SWOT analysis can be useful here (another traditional marketing tool).

You have to figure out how your marketing, lead generation and sales work together to fine-tune your approach. If you can find some way to provide comparable quality while being measurably the cheapest service, you can likely be aggressive in all channels.

Putting the P(ieces) together

So, there are a lot of moving parts here. You can tackle product, price, place and promotion in any order. And in all honesty, I tend to merge place and promotion when we do this for ourselves and our clients. Product informs price. Price points inform the product. No point adding some radical new features if they push the price up too high.

You must consider the marketplace you operate in and your competition. Scalable marketing success will very much depend upon getting all of these factors aligned. If you measure the success of your SEO by how many conversions you generate from organic traffic, then you can improve your SEO by tweaking your product pricing.

The point I am trying to make here is that great SEO does not exist in a bubble. It is part of a broader marketing framework. As marketers and SEOs, we have to consider these other factors to ensure we can keep on improving the work that we do.

If you have a product that is not selling, try considering each of these factors. Is it the product itself? Is it the pricing? Or is your promotion just not up to scratch? Use the simple 4 Ps framework to interrogate your marketing, and your results will only improve.

]]>https://digitalcusp.com/the-4-ps-of-seo-digital-marketing/feed/0Marketing Your Small Business On A Shoestring Budgethttps://digitalcusp.com/marketing-your-small-business-on-a-shoestring-budget/
https://digitalcusp.com/marketing-your-small-business-on-a-shoestring-budget/#respondWed, 09 Aug 2017 18:27:22 +0000http://digitalcusp.com/?p=3183For small businesses with relatively modest marketing budgets, it can sometimes feel as though most paid media channels are totally out of reach. Big media buys require major investment, which can limit the options available to small businesses. But that doesn’t mean there’s no room for small business in paid media -- in fact, digital [...]

For small businesses with relatively modest marketing budgets, it can sometimes feel as though most paid media channels are totally out of reach. Big media buys require major investment, which can limit the options available to small businesses. But that doesn’t mean there’s no room for small business in paid media — in fact, digital models, which allow for much more granular targeting and smaller buys than traditional media, have done a lot to open up opportunities for those companies.

Here are some takeaways:

Pay-Per-Click: With pay-per-click advertising (also referred to as paid search and search engine marketing), your ads will be shown to users in search engine results based on user search queries.

Paid Social: Organic social media marketing serves many vital purposes for small businesses, but it’s necessary to put advertising spend behind your efforts if you’re going to see results. Organic posts by brands reach a very small percentage of users, which means that promoting posts and running ads are the only ways to ensure brand visibility.

Niche Influencers: The key to successful influencer marketing for small businesses is to aim for niche influencers with whom you can realistically afford to build a partnership. Niche influencers still have sizeable, engaged audiences, but because they aren’t mega-influencers, they don’t come with the same mega price tags.

Remarketing: Remarketing involves showing banner ads to users who have visited a website and left without making a purchase or completing a lead generation form. The ads are later shown to the user on sites elsewhere on the web. When properly executed, this type of display advertising is an affordable way to get users back to your website to convert.

There’s a lot of room in digital media for small businesses to put modest media budgets to work. If you’re new to paid media, and unsure of where to channel your ad dollars, this article explores the benefits of four different options.

1. Pay-Per-Click

Pay-per-click is the most obvious paid media option that immediately comes to mind for small businesses. With pay-per-click advertising (also referred to as paid search and search engine marketing), your ads will be shown to users in search engine results based on user search queries.

As the name suggests, the cost to the advertiser is on a per-click basis. Costs can vary dramatically based on the competitiveness of the keyword in question — the more competitive a keyword, the more you can expect to pay for each click. The benefit to small businesses, though, is the ability to target users who have already shown interest in what your company has to offer, which is generally a more cost-effective approach than blasting marketing messages at wide, unknown audiences.

One thing for small businesses to keep in mind when running PPC campaigns is to avoid falling into the head-term trap. Head-terms are broad, non-specific keyword phrases with lots of search traffic, and that means they’re more expensive. Let’s say you’re a personal accounting firm based in New York. The keyword “accounting firm” is, technically speaking, representative of your business and services. So it makes sense to bid for it, right? But “accounting firm” is also representative of many other businesses that are probably bidding on it as well, driving the cost-per-click quite high. What’s more, the true intent of the user who searches “accounting firm” isn’t entirely clear.

A related long-tail keyword, however, can bring in qualified traffic at lower costs. The keyword “personal accounting firms in NYC,” for example, is more specific and the user who searches it is more likely to have their needs met by your company. It’s also easy to set spend limits to keep budgets in check.

2. Paid Social

Organic social media marketing serves many vital purposes for small businesses, but it’s necessary to put advertising spend behind your efforts if you’re going to see results. Organic posts by brands reach a very small percentage of users, which means that promoting posts and running ads are the only ways to ensure brand visibility.

Facebook and Instagram only require very low minimum spend levels, so they’re great options for small businesses. Both platforms offer highly visual ad formats and granular targeting options. Other social advertising options include sponsored Tweets on Twitter, Buyable Pins on Pinterest and LinkedIn advertising for B2B businesses. Snapchat does have advertising, but current costs are prohibitive for most SMBs.

3. Niche Influencers

Influencer marketing is an effective way to grow brand awareness, appeal to new audiences and generate valuable content. The problem? Influencer marketing can quickly become prohibitively expensive if the influencers you’re hoping to work with have massive audiences.

The key to successful influencer marketing for small businesses is to aim for niche influencers with whom you can realistically afford to build a partnership. Niche influencers still have sizeable, engaged audiences, but because they aren’t mega-influencers, they don’t come with the same mega price tags. What’s more, niche influencers who are respected within your industry are more likely to be trusted by users than a big celebrity who doesn’t have the same expertise or skill set.

4. Remarketing

Remarketing involves showing banner ads to users who have visited a website and left without making a purchase or completing a lead generation form. The ads are later shown to the user on sites elsewhere on the web. When properly executed, this type of display advertising is an affordable way to get users back to your website to convert.

Another way to incorporate remarketing as part of your paid media strategy is through remarketing lists for search ads (RLSAs). These search ads use remarketing lists to show ads to searchers who have previously visited a website. We know that the vast majority of users do not complete a conversion upon their first visit to a website, but that doesn’t mean their search is over or that they aren’t interested in converting in the future.

RLSAs help bridge the gap between a user who is a website visitor and a user who becomes a customer by allowing advertisers to automatically bid higher on related keywords when a previous site visitor conducts a search. If, for example, a user came to your site looking for sandals but did not purchase a pair, you can use RLSAs to reach that user when she later returns to continue her research.

The best thing about digital advertising is that it can accommodate even relatively small budgets. You don’t have to be a Fortune 500 company to use paid media to attract new business — you just need to allocate a smart budget and be strategic about how and where you spend it. PPC, paid social, niche influencer marketing, and remarketing are all effective channels for small businesses.

]]>https://digitalcusp.com/marketing-your-small-business-on-a-shoestring-budget/feed/0How SEO & Content Deliver Value at Each Stage of the Buyer’s Journeyhttps://digitalcusp.com/how-seo-content-deliver-value-at-each-stage-of-the-buyers-journey/
https://digitalcusp.com/how-seo-content-deliver-value-at-each-stage-of-the-buyers-journey/#respondWed, 02 Aug 2017 17:03:49 +0000http://digitalcusp.com/?p=3177Search marketing — and the entire digital landscape — has evolved tremendously over the past 20 years. As a result, the core strategy of modern marketing teams has shifted away from old, intrusive tactics and towards value-based marketing. Marketers have come to realize that pushing their sales messaging on customers isn’t as effective as attracting [...]

Search marketing — and the entire digital landscape — has evolved tremendously over the past 20 years. As a result, the core strategy of modern marketing teams has shifted away from old, intrusive tactics and towards value-based marketing.

Marketers have come to realize that pushing their sales messaging on customers isn’t as effective as attracting them through meaningful and helpful interactions. The most successful teams are refocusing their efforts on delivering value to their customers at each stage of the buyer’s journey.

Here are some takeaways:

Top of the Funnel: Awareness: At the top of the funnel, you’re trying to generate awareness of your brand — at this point, your prospects aren’t seeking to buy anything quite yet. The goal of your top-of-funnel content isn’t to sell them on your solution or product – just concern yourself with education. Providing helpful information positions your brand as a trusted authority.

Middle of the Funnel: Consideration: The middle of the funnel is arguably the most influential part of the buyer’s journey. It’s where they assess the competitive landscape and develop an affinity for one solution over another. The goal for mid-funnel content is targeted and educational. It educates potential customers on your competitive differentiators in order to nurture them to the bottom of the funnel.

Bottom of the Funnel: Decision: At the bottom of the funnel, the customer is ready to make a decision. The goal at this stage is to close the sale. Here the prospect becomes a customer. At the bottom of the funnel, branded keywords are important.

This shift means that modern marketing teams have to adapt by investing in content. And as brands grow their content marketing teams and double down on content creation, the SEO is becoming a more essential, strategic, and proactive player.

To win in the world of content marketing, content and SEO teams have to be aligned. After all, without content, there is no SEO, and without SEO, content doesn’t get found.

Strategic alignment from the outset between SEO and content is key to ensure content is optimized throughout the buyer’s journey.

At each stage, it’s essential to leverage the appropriate SEO and content strategies together to deliver maximum value and convert prospects.

Top of the Funnel: Awareness

Goal: Brand awareness

Tactic: Educational content targeting question-based queries

At the top of the funnel, you’re trying to generate awareness of your brand — at this point, your prospects aren’t seeking to buy anything quite yet. Rather, they have likely realized a problem or opportunity and are doing their due diligence by researching and collecting data.

The goal of your top-of-funnel content isn’t to sell them on your solution or product – just concern yourself with education. Providing helpful information positions your brand as a trusted authority.

Consumers are 131 percent more likely to buy from a brand immediately after they consume educational content, and the effect lasts, according to research from Conductor (disclosure: I work for Conductor).

Customers have more trust and affinity toward brands that provide valuable content.

At the awareness phase, users may search for, “How to remove a stain?” The intent of isn’t to buy a stain remover, but to discover solutions.

The exact resource you’ll offer depends on your audience and their needs, but the ideal types of content best delivered at the top of the funnel include:

How-to guides.

Videos.

Whitepapers.

Ebooks.

Other long-form content.

The goal is to optimize this content around the types of question-based queries that customers ask during this phase to rank in the SERPs. This is where content and SEO converge.

Keywords must be integrated into the page structure (URL structure, meta description, etc.) of content and align with search intent to rank well.

One of the most valuable SERP results today for both brands and customers is Google’s Answer Box.

The Answer Box (also known as “position zero” thanks to its placement) is a featured snippet that appears at the top of SERPs. It includes the text Google thinks answers the question, the title of the webpage that contains the content, and its URL.

Answer boxes have been around for some time, but are becoming more prominent as Google is better able to match search intent with content.

Answer boxes not only leapfrog content to the top of the results but also puts your brand front-and-center as an authority on the topic.

There are no definitive guidelines for securing position zero, and the content can come from any result on the first page. It’s related to a combination of search intent, the content’s structure, and markup.

However, we know that focusing on long-tail keywords and, as always, providing inherent value is key.

Middle of the Funnel: Consideration

Goal: Nurture and build brand affinity

Tactic: Solutions to use-cases, third party validation

As a customer moves past awareness, they enter the middle of the funnel, where they’re seeking content to evaluate the different solution providers or tools available.

The middle of the funnel is arguably the most influential part of the buyer’s journey. It’s where they assess the competitive landscape and develop an affinity for one solution over another.

The goal for mid-funnel content is targeted and educational. It educates potential customers on your competitive differentiators in order to nurture them to the bottom of the funnel.

The types of content and keywords you target at this phase shift considerably from the awareness phase.

The search query changes from “How to remove a stain?” to “Best stain removers.”

Queries like this are indicators that the buyer has moved mid-funnel and is seeking specific solutions. Rather than educating the broader market, you are speaking to a potential buyer who is expressing interest.

The content that works well here includes:

Case studies.

Data sheets.

Buyer’s guides.

But delivering value to customers during this stage isn’t just about your own content — you should also highlight third-party publications and sites, as they validate your position in the market.

Even more, securing external links from trusted sites improves your domain authority and SERP rankings at all stages of the buyer’s journey.

Bottom of the Funnel: Decision

Goal: Close the sale

Tactic: Branded keywords, sales enablement

At the bottom of the funnel, the customer is ready to make a decision. The goal at this stage is to close the sale.

Here the prospect becomes a customer.

At the bottom of the funnel, branded keywords are important.

Branded keywords express direct intent for your solution. You want to ensure you are maximizing your online visibility in those search results to safeguard from competitors infringing on your branded traffic.

The content most relevant for prospects at this stage are:

Reviews.

Testimonials.

Pricing.

Other specific product information.

You want to create content that your buyer can share internally to move the purchase conversation forward and engage the relevant stakeholders.

In a B2B business, much of the bottom-funnel content is about enabling the sales team to close the deal. The aim is to convince folks to pull the trigger, to answer any outstanding questions, and to feel empowered to make the decision.

Conclusion

The average lead-to-deal conversion rate from a website is 1.55 percent, according to a research by Implisit. With such low conversion rates, it’s essential marketing teams align their content and SEO strategies to maximize their performance.

It isn’t only about creating valuable content but also optimizing that content to get found online by the right prospect at the right time in the buyer’s journey.

Marketers who only optimize their content for keywords will falter because it doesn’t deliver true value. While marketers that don’t consider SEO will falter because their content will go undiscovered.

SEO and content work together to lead your prospect all the way through the funnel toward becoming a customer — and discover that you’re the solution they’ve been looking for.

]]>https://digitalcusp.com/how-seo-content-deliver-value-at-each-stage-of-the-buyers-journey/feed/0Localized Digital Marketing: How Brands Like Airbnb And WeWork Are Leading The Wayhttps://digitalcusp.com/localized-digital-marketing-how-brands-like-airbnb-and-wework-are-leading-the-way/
https://digitalcusp.com/localized-digital-marketing-how-brands-like-airbnb-and-wework-are-leading-the-way/#respondWed, 26 Jul 2017 17:31:12 +0000http://digitalcusp.com/?p=3171Local businesses are some of the slowest to adapt to digital technologies and digital marketing strategies. That’s because small local business owners have to wear many hats, and with so many responsibilities, staying on top of the most up-to-date marketing trends isn’t always a top priority. It takes time to adapt to new technologies and [...]

Local businesses are some of the slowest to adapt to digital technologies and digital marketing strategies. That’s because small local business owners have to wear many hats, and with so many responsibilities, staying on top of the most up-to-date marketing trends isn’t always a top priority. It takes time to adapt to new technologies and small businesses usually don’t have in-house digital expertise necessary to make it happen.

Here are some takeaways:

Local Content Marketing: Small local businesses have a great opportunity to create content that is specific to their city or region. Local law firms are experts in the specifics of the law within their state. Fresh, quality content is an organic search ranking factor, and it can help attract links, mentions, and shares — all of which are good exposure for your business.

Partnerships with local niche influencers: For local business, there’s an opportunity to tap local niche influencers who are well-known within a specific city or state. Research the bloggers in your city or town and see if any of them have interests that align to your company’s products or services.

Social media advertising: Social media advertising is the way to go if granular targeting is your goal, which it is for most local businesses. Social ads can help drive brand awareness, website conversions, and store visits. On most platforms it’s easy to keep budgets in check — a key concern for many local advertisers.

Local search ads: Local search ads are one of the most reliable and cost effective ways to drive sales and leads. Setting up local search ads with Google means your business can be listed at the top of the results when a user conducts a local search relevant to your business.

Mobile-first design: Capitalizing on mobile traffic should be a key priority for local businesses. Mobile searches are very often local in nature, and they can demonstrate an immediacy that desktop searches usually lack. Capturing that mobile user should be a top priority for local businesses.

Through experience, I’ve found that for many local small and medium sized businesses it’s most effective to craft localized digital marketing strategies that are unique to each brand. Truth be told, there is a lot of power in using digital marketing to get results for local businesses. Based on experience with local clients, here are a few of the local marketing tactics I’d recommend.

Local Content Marketing

Content marketing is a must when it comes to successful digital marketing. All across the digital landscape, brands are investing in churning out high quality, engaging content that encourages links, shares, and engagement. And it isn’t just a strategy that only works for big brands — small businesses have proven time and again that all it takes to create engaging content is expertise in a specific field or industry and the persistence to devise a content calendar and stick to it.

Small local businesses have a great opportunity to create content that is specific to their city or region. Local law firms are experts in the specifics of the law within their state. A local landscaping business probably knows more than almost anyone else about how to design and care for lawns and gardens in their specific geographic region and climate. This expertise can be used to build content that’s useful to users in their target region.

Fresh, quality content is an organic search ranking factor, and it can help attract links, mentions, and shares — all of which are good exposure for your business.

Airbnb

Airbnb uses content that is uniquely tailored to the specific area of the customer as a way to boost engagement.

Partnerships with local niche influencers

Partnering with nationally-recognizable influencers can be extraordinarily expensive, and it’s a tactic that’s out of reach for small businesses. But influencer marketing doesn’t just mean working with huge names. In fact, it’s usually a smarter, more effective strategy to build partnerships with niche influencers. These niche influencers have engaged audiences who follow them based on their specific sphere of interest and influence. That means that although their follower counts are lower than those of mega-influencers, niche influencer marketing is more likely to connect with the right audience.

For local business, there’s an opportunity to tap local niche influencers who are well-known within a specific city or state. Research the bloggers in your city or town and see if any of them have interests that align to your company’s products or services. By building partnerships with influencers in your area, you can introduce your business to new, highly relevant audiences.

Social media advertising

Social media advertising is the way to go if granular targeting is your goal, which it is for most local businesses. On Facebook, for example, you can target your ads to users based on state or region, city, zip code, or business address. You can further refine your local targeting to specify people who live in the area, are visiting the area, or have recently been in the area.

Social ads can help drive brand awareness, website conversions, and store visits. On most platforms it’s easy to keep budgets in check — a key concern for many local advertisers.

Local search ads

Local search ads are one of the most reliable and cost effective ways to drive sales and leads. Setting up local search ads with Google means your business can be listed at the top of the results when a user conducts a local search relevant to your business. On desktop your ad will show with a link to your business info, your website, and directions. On mobile, ads can appear both in mobile search, and searches within the Google Maps app. Mobile ads include a click-to-call link so users can contact your business directly from the search results.

Paid search ads operate on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis, which means you pay based on the clicks your ads receive. You can set maximum budgets to keep spending in check in the beginning. As you optimize campaigns and begin to see better leads at lower costs, you can gradually increase your spending.

WeWork

WeWork’s Facebook advertisements contain copy and imagery that is specific to a geographic location, and thus incredibly relevant to the user at hand.

Mobile-first design

Capitalizing on mobile traffic should be a key priority for local businesses. Mobile searches are very often local in nature, and they can demonstrate an immediacy that desktop searches usually lack. A mobile searcher who does a search for “clothing stores” is very likely to be out and about, looking for a clothing store to visit at that exact moment or in the very near future. A desktop user who performs the same search has far murkier objectives. Capturing that mobile user, therefore, should be a top priority for local businesses.

What happens, though, if you do everything right with your marketing and you end up getting that mobile click, only to deliver a subpar mobile website experience? You may have lost that customer for good. Even though local businesses have been historically slow to adapt to the latest and greatest in web design, they’re the ones who stand to gain a lot by designing mobile-first experiences that make the needs of the mobile user top priority.

Warby Parker

Warby Parker is a national ecommerce brand, with an offline presence as well. For customers who may be looking to visit their online store before going to their physical store to make a purchase, the completely optimized mobile site offers an excellent user-experience.

Even for national brands with dedicated internal teams, it’s a challenge to stay on top of all the shifts and changes that happen in the digital marketing space. For local businesses with smaller budgets, the best approach is to try out different local marketing tactics and ultimately invest the bulk of your digital budget in the ones that show the best returns. The 5 approaches listed above are a great place to start.

]]>https://digitalcusp.com/localized-digital-marketing-how-brands-like-airbnb-and-wework-are-leading-the-way/feed/0Is Your Organic Traffic Falling? Here’s What to Dohttps://digitalcusp.com/is-your-organic-traffic-falling-heres-what-to-do/
https://digitalcusp.com/is-your-organic-traffic-falling-heres-what-to-do/#respondThu, 20 Jul 2017 16:44:24 +0000http://digitalcusp.com/?p=3165In a search engine optimization (SEO) campaign, the ideal result is a steady, ongoing and reliable increase in organic traffic -- meaning the measure of the number of people visiting your website after finding it in organic searches. At some points, you might reach a plateau where your organic traffic levels off and refuses to increase [...]

In a search engine optimization (SEO) campaign, the ideal result is a steady, ongoing and reliable increase in organic traffic — meaning the measure of the number of people visiting your website after finding it in organic searches.

At some points, you might reach a plateau where your organic traffic levels off and refuses to increase further; this is generally temporary and acceptable, a natural effect of the long-term landscape of an SEO campaign, which has hundreds of factors at play.

Here are some takeaways:

Check for a manual penalty: First, you’ll want to check for a manual penalty. It’s rare and highly unlikely that you’ll face a manual penalty from Google, but it’s the most identifiable root cause of the problem. If you are facing such a penalty, your organic traffic will steeply and instantly drop, and you’ll receive a notification in Google Search Console saying that your site has been penalized.

Pinpoint specific traffic drops: If you aren’t facing a manual penalty, your next step is to determine the main areas of your traffic drop. Though your entire site may be experiencing a cumulative drop, it’s more likely that the drop can be traced to a handful of specific pages, or specific keyword terms.

Examine the competition: To do this, examine your search positions for various keywords, and see where you’ve experienced a drop in rankings. If you have, are there any new competitors that have emerged on the scene to displace you? Have some of your older competitors recently stepped up their game, with better content and new inbound links?

Audit your link profile: The quality and quantity of links you have pointing to your site has a direct bearing on how highly it ranks in organic search results. So, a sudden, unexpected change in your link profile could cause a drop in rankings, and, therefore, in organic traffic.

Audit your on-site content: If you’ve decreased your content budget, or are publishing too much content that nobody is reading or sharing, that too could cause a similar drop. The solution here is long-term: You’ll need to root out any low-quality content and start investing in higher-quality material.

Make corrections and improvements: Unfortunately, there are no quick fixes for a drop in organic traffic. However, there are some straightforward ones; sometimes, removing enough bad links or building new, strong ones is enough to correct the problem, but it usually still takes weeks to months for Google’s search index to reflect your changes.

You may also encounter a more troubling effect: an active decline in the organic traffic your site is receiving. A small dip is no immediate cause for concern (it may just be a temporary drop in consumer interest); but if that dip lasts for more than a few weeks or turns into a more significant drop, you’ll need to troubleshoot the problem to see what’s going on.

Check for a manual penalty.

First, you’ll want to check for a manual penalty. It’s rare and highly unlikely that you’ll face a manual penalty from Google, but it’s the most identifiable root cause of the problem. If you are facing such a penalty, your organic traffic will steeply and instantly drop, and you’ll receive a notification in Google Search Console saying that your site has been penalized.

If you don’t see both of those signs, you’re probably in the clear. But if you have received a penalty, you’ll need to correct the problem that caused it, such as bad or plagiarized content, or spammy, “black-hat” optimization tactics. Then you should appeal the penalty with Google or wait for it to be lifted.

Pinpoint specific traffic drops.

If you aren’t facing a manual penalty, your next step is to determine the main areas of your traffic drop. Though your entire site may be experiencing a cumulative drop, it’s more likely that the drop can be traced to a handful of specific pages, or specific keyword terms.

You can use this information to guide the rest of your examination; if there’s one page for which traffic has disappeared, for example, you can narrow your focus to that page’s competition, links, and content, as you’ll see in the following sections.

Examine the competition.

Next, take a look at your competition and how it may have changed in the past few months; this is especially important for startups in new industries, tech companies and any other business where the competitive landscape can turn on a dime.

To do this, examine your search positions for various keywords, and see where you’ve experienced a drop in rankings. If you have, are there any new competitors that have emerged on the scene to displace you? Have some of your older competitors recently stepped up their game, with better content and new inbound links?

Note that there are two potential effects here. First, your competitors may be investing more in their own SEO campaigns, outperforming you in the process. If this is the case, your main course of action will be to invest in more head-to-head competition, or to target different, more specific terms, if you want to avoid competing altogether.

Second, your own site could have declined for other reasons, giving your competitors the opportunity to improve their positions. You’ll be able to determine if this is the case by studying your performance in two key areas, link-building and onsite content.

Audit your link profile.

The quality and quantity of links you have pointing to your site has a direct bearing on how highly it ranks in organic search results. So, a sudden, unexpected change in your link profile could cause a drop in rankings, and, therefore, in organic traffic. Use a link-profiler like Moz’s Open Site Explorer to analyze the links you have pointing to your site, and determine whether either of two trigger points (described below) accounts for a drop in search visibility.

First, look for any new links from spammy sources. Are there any new links you yourself have built (or that have appeared mysteriously) on dubious websites? Second, are there links that appear spammy?

Either of these could make your website look less trustworthy to search engines. If this is the case, you’ll need to remove those links by contacting the appropriate webmaster and making a request. If that fails, ask Google to disavow the link.

Audit your on-site content.

If manual penalties, competition and links aren’t the source of your drop in organic traffic, the cause could be the quality of your on-site content. For example, if you’ve recently removed some top-performing content, that could decrease the overall value of your site (though it’s unlikely you’ve intentionally removed high-quality content).

If you’ve decreased your content budget, or are publishing too much content that nobody is reading or sharing, that too could cause a similar drop. The solution here is long-term: You’ll need to root out any low-quality content and start investing in higher-quality material.

Make corrections and improvements.

Unfortunately, there are no quick fixes for a drop in organic traffic. However, there are some straightforward ones; sometimes, removing enough bad links or building new, strong ones is enough to correct the problem, but it usually still takes weeks to months for Google’s search index to reflect your changes.

Stay committed to best practices, and learn from any mistakes you’ve made; and, eventually, you’ll find yourself back on a trend of positive organic traffic growth.

]]>https://digitalcusp.com/is-your-organic-traffic-falling-heres-what-to-do/feed/03 Ways SEO & Content Work Better Togetherhttps://digitalcusp.com/3-ways-seo-content-work-better-together/
https://digitalcusp.com/3-ways-seo-content-work-better-together/#respondThu, 20 Jul 2017 15:26:09 +0000http://digitalcusp.com/?p=3161The relationship between SEO and content marketing can always feel a bit complicated – specifically in how the two fit together. Do they get along? Are they at odds with each other? If so, is it possible to ever make them work together? If you’re trying to grow your qualified search traffic, you can’t do [...]

The relationship between SEO and content marketing can always feel a bit complicated – specifically in how the two fit together. Do they get along? Are they at odds with each other? If so, is it possible to ever make them work together?

If you’re trying to grow your qualified search traffic, you can’t do it with only one; you have to combine your SEO efforts with engaging content. But what’s the most effective way to do this?

Here are some takeaways:

Keywords Can Help You Generate Content Ideas: There is no such thing as SEO without keywords, and the most astute content marketers understand that the best content helps your rank for the terms that are most related to what your consumers are already searching for – which is why every effective content strategy starts with keyword research.

A Diverse Backlink Portfolio Is the Direct Result of Engaging Content: Google uses links to measure relevance, authority, and trust of websites. So producing lots of linkable content will help boost your rankings.

A Site Audit Can Reveal Where Your Content Falls Flat: A comprehensive site audit allows you to take a closer look at the more technical aspects of your site. But what this audit can also do is reveal which pages are falling flat – which is where engaging content comes back into play.

One way to look at the relationship is from the perspective of SEO making requests of content marketing (although their synergy isn’t as aggressive as that sounds).

Let’s look at three essential ingredients SEO requires – keywords, backlinks, and a technical site audit – and how SEO and content work together to help you achieve your digital marketing goals.

1. Keywords Can Help You Generate Content Ideas

There is no such thing as SEO without keywords, and the most astute content marketers understand that the best content helps your rank for the terms that are most related to what your consumers are already searching for – which is why every effective content strategy starts with keyword research.

A comprehensive keyword research session starts with some simple brainstorming. Think about the main goals of your site and jot down some keywords. From there, expand this list with the help of keyword tools.

Below are two ways you can identify keywords beyond those you currently rank for:

Google autocomplete and related searches: There’s no better way to step inside the mind of what your consumers are searching for than through Google. Let’s say you wanted to start dedicated to cheeseburgers. “The best cheeseburger” is a query that your target audience is already likely using, but when you enter it into Google, you’ll discover a list of potential long-tail keywords (see below).From there, scroll down and check the related searches for an additional list of relevant keywords (see below).

Paid tools like SEMrush: Another option is to look at potential keywords through the lens of how competitive the term is via SEMrush. On the platform’s main dashboard, they have a section that offers related keywords, which is another great resource to identify terms that your site might not already rank for (see below).

Once you’ve got a set list of keywords, think about how you can use them effectively beyond just technical means. Beyond meta descriptions and title tags, here are a few other ways you can use your keyword research:

Blog posts: Use your list of keywords to help you come up with new blog topics. Referring back to the cheeseburger example, you can produce a blog post where you sample multiple burgers from fast food chains.

Static and dynamic assets: Keywords can be a jumping off point to more creative projects. In the case of “best cheeseburger toppings,” you could create an interactive asset that lets users build their own burgers.

Social media: Keyword research can also help you identify new opportunities for social promotion – specifically through new hashtag ideas.

2. A Diverse Backlink Portfolio Is the Direct Result of Engaging Content

Google uses links to measure relevance, authority, and trust of websites. So producing lots of linkable content will help boost your rankings.

So what’s the secret to linkable content? An analysis of more than 300 content marketing campaigns by Moz and Fractl (disclosure: my employer) revealed there are four key ingredients to highly shareable content:

Highly emotional

Broad appeal

Comparison

A pop culture element

Consider this project from Bulimia.com that reimagines superheroes with more realistic body types. With the help of Photoshop, designers replaced bulging biceps with less-toned physiques to offer a new way to discuss body image issues.

The result? Nearly 1,300 press mentions and more than 100,000 social shares.

This campaign worked because it checked off every box of shareable content. And when it was paired with the right promotions strategy, it generated a diverse set of high-quality links and mentions – including dofollows, co-citations, nofollows, and text attributions – a “healthy” mix that signals to Google your links are natural and not bought.

3. A Site Audit Can Reveal Where Your Content Falls Flat

A comprehensive site audit allows you to take a closer look at the more technical aspects of your site (e.g., are sitemaps and redirects setup properly, are the URLs and title descriptions unique for each page and properly formatted, is your internal linking useful?)

But what this audit can also do is reveal which pages are falling flat – which is where engaging content comes back into play.

Pages that are generating a ton of traffic might be outdated, have little to no content or be too cluttered, but there are some easy ways to remedy the situation:

For pages with little to no content (or similar content), merge them together using a 301 redirect.

If you content is out-of-date, setup a reminder that allows you to constantly check on the page and update it when appropriate.

Consider producing more evergreen content so you don’t have to revisit pages frequently.

For pages that have too much content, determine whether you can improve internal linking by removing sections that are explained in more detail on other pages.

There are tons of great strategies out there to get your content in front of the right audience, but understanding how SEO and content complement one another will make your strategy more effective.

Optimizing the technical aspects is what allows search engines to crawl your site, but valuable content is what makes your site get that top spot.

]]>https://digitalcusp.com/3-ways-seo-content-work-better-together/feed/0Don’t Forget These Things When Creating A Digital Marketing Plan For Your Startuphttps://digitalcusp.com/dont-forget-these-things-when-creating-a-digital-marketing-plan-for-your-startup/
https://digitalcusp.com/dont-forget-these-things-when-creating-a-digital-marketing-plan-for-your-startup/#respondTue, 18 Jul 2017 16:49:24 +0000http://digitalcusp.com/?p=3158Launching a startup is an exciting time in your life. Your days are full of action, and you love every last minute of it. As you turn your attention to digital marketing, your excitement could soon turn into disappointment. Here’s why: You may struggle to implement a strategy that allows you to ramp up quickly, [...]

Launching a startup is an exciting time in your life. Your days are full of action, and you love every last minute of it.

As you turn your attention to digital marketing, your excitement could soon turn into disappointment. Here’s why: You may struggle to implement a strategy that allows you to ramp up quickly, reach peak performance and generate positive results.

Here are some takeaways about your digital marketing plan:

Know your industry: Digital marketing is not a one-size-fits-all approach. It’s imperative that you know the inner workings of your industry, and how these details fit into your digital marketing strategy.

Do one thing well before moving on: Spreading yourself too thin is a mistake you don’t want to make. The best approach is to do one thing well before moving on. This doesn’t mean you should be putting all your eggs in one basket, but you should strive to be the best at one thing as opposed to average at everything.

Map it out: It’s one thing to have a digital marketing strategy in your mind, but another thing entirely to put pen to paper. When you map everything out from the start, it’s much easier to stay on track as the days go by.

Get help before you need it: Creating a successful digital marketing strategy means getting the help you need before you actually need it. So, if you know you’ll need a content writer or social media strategist down the line, start your search today.

While you may feel more alone than ever before, you’re not the only entrepreneur with this problem. Let’s check out a few statistics reported by HubSpot that back this up:

Only roughly 22% of businesses are satisfied with their conversion rates.

Only 42% of marketers say they are able to measure their social activities.

15% of marketers surveyed say their company still does not regularly review email opens and clicks.

You get the point. Other entrepreneurs are struggling to create and implement digital marketing plans for their startups.

As challenging as this appears – especially with so many other tasks on your plate – you don’t have to let this roadblock slow you down. Here are four steps to create a digital marketing strategy that will bring you closer to your goals.

1. Know your industry.

Digital marketing is not a one-size-fits-all approach.

Think about it like this: A company with a focus on e-commerce technology will not take the same approach as one in the sports industry. If you simply try to follow the leader, you will find yourself wasting a lot of time, money and other resources.

It’s imperative that you know the inner workings of your industry, and how these details fit into your digital marketing strategy.

2. Do one thing well before moving on.

Spreading yourself too thin is a mistake you don’t want to make. The best approach is to do one thing well before moving on.

For example, you could focus all your early attention on creating the highest quality blog content in your space. Make it your business to share more valuable content than all of your competitors combined.

Once you do this, you can turn your attention to another angle, such as social media or email.

This doesn’t mean you should be putting all your eggs in one basket, but you should strive to be the best at one thing as opposed to average at everything.

3. Map it out.

No matter what you do, make sure you map out your digital marketing strategy on day one. This means writing down the following:

The methods you plan on employing now (and in the future)

The strategy associated with each method

The time you can devote to each method

The order in which you will roll out your plan

It’s one thing to have a digital marketing strategy in your mind, but another thing entirely to put pen to paper.

When you map everything out from the start, it’s much easier to stay on track as the days go by.

4. Get help before you need it.

Many entrepreneurs believe they can handle anything and everything that comes their way. You may be right for the time being, but things have a way of changing quickly in the startup world.

Creating a successful digital marketing strategy means getting the help you need before you actually need it. So, if you know you’ll need a content writer or social media strategist down the line, start your search today.

Once your startup is live and it’s time to hit the ground running, don’t neglect your digital marketing plan.

By focusing on these four points, you’ll find yourself in a better position to create a strategy you can trust and rely on for many years to come.

]]>https://digitalcusp.com/dont-forget-these-things-when-creating-a-digital-marketing-plan-for-your-startup/feed/05 Email Marketing Tweaks to Double Your Business Revenuehttps://digitalcusp.com/5-email-marketing-tweaks-to-double-your-business-revenue/
https://digitalcusp.com/5-email-marketing-tweaks-to-double-your-business-revenue/#respondTue, 11 Jul 2017 16:59:47 +0000http://digitalcusp.com/?p=3153Email is the most powerful marketing channel of the 21st century. In fact, email is so powerful that the Direct Marketing Association says that you can get a return on investment (ROI) of $38 for every $1 you invest in email marketing. Similarly, research shows that email is responsible for driving 25.1 percent of all Black Friday [...]

Email is the most powerful marketing channel of the 21st century. In fact, email is so powerful that the Direct Marketing Association says that you can get a return on investment (ROI) of $38 for every $1 you invest in email marketing. Similarly, research shows that email is responsible for driving 25.1 percent of all Black Friday sales in 2015, compared to just 1.6 percent of sales from social media.

If you want to get results from email marketing, though, you need to change your approach.

Here are some takeaways about how to get results with email marketing:

Create and execute an “abandoned cart” follow up strategy: A huge portion of people will go through your sales process, from their first visit to your website right to the checkout, and then drop off. There are many reasons why people abandon carts, but you can use email to recoup some of these sales.

Email cross-selling and upselling: Experts reveal that conversion to sales from Amazon’s on-site recommendation could be as high as 60 percent, but the conversion is much higher with email. Play it like Amazon and integrate email into your cross-selling and upselling efforts, both in introducing offers and in following up on those offers.

Segment your email list and avoid using the batch-and-blast approach: According to a study conducted by Marketing Sherpa, segmenting emails can boost email conversion rates by up to 208 percent. The more personalized and segmented your emails are, though, the better.

Optimize the timing of your emails: Research shows that there is a best time and day to send emails depending on your goals. So it is essential to identify where your audience is mainly based, and then use that knowledge to optimize your emails.

Embrace full-on email automation: Most email services let you automate email timing, making it possible to send emails to different people at different times based on their time zone. It is important to realize that full-on automation is the future of email marketing.

The following are some very little tweaks you can make to your email marketing that will give you a massive boost in revenue:

1. Create and execute an “abandoned cart” follow up strategy

One of the toughest realities you have to face as an online business is that a huge — and I mean HUGE — portion of people will go through your sales process, from their first visit to your website right to the checkout, and then drop off.

Data from Baymard, which is based on 34 different cart abandonment studies, found that a whopping 68.81 percent of people abandon carts. That’s 68 sales out of 100 that disappear at the final step.

Of course, there are many reasons why people abandon carts, but you can use email to recoup some of these sales.

Radley London recovered 7.9 percent of lost sales simply by sending cart abandonment emails. Boot Barn generated a 12 percent lift in recaptured revenue by using email to remarket to cart abandoners.

2. Email cross-selling and upselling

How much is cross-selling worth to your business? For e-commerce giant Amazon, cross-selling was worth $37.45 billion in 2015 — a whopping 35 percent of their revenue.

Amazon’s recommendation engine is one of the most effective cross-selling systems in the world, but very few people know that email is the most powerful ingredient of this recommendation engine.

Experts reveal that conversion to sales from Amazon’s on-site recommendation could be as high as 60 percent, but the conversion is much higher with email. Play it like Amazon and integrate email into your cross-selling and upselling efforts, both in introducing offers and in following up on those offers.

The batch-and-blast approach, in which everybody is lumped into one category and emailed.

The segmented approach, in which subscribers are segmented based on interest and other relevant information.

Which of the two approaches do you think is more effective? Well, let’s consult research again: According to a study conducted by Marketing Sherpa, segmenting emails can boost email conversion rates by up to 208 percent.

You can segment by gender, age bracket, interests, activity on your site, purchase behavior, interaction with your site or a host of other categories. The more personalized and segmented your emails are, though, the better.

4. Optimize the timing of your emails

Research shows that there is a best time and day to send emails depending on your goals. Here are some quick facts based on somereliablesources:

The best time to send an email is between 10 and 11 a.m.

The best weekday to send emails for high transactions is Monday, and the best weekend day is Sunday.

The best day to send emails ro high open rates and clickthrough rates is Tuesday.

It is essential to also consider the role the time of your audience plays; the timezone of California is different from that of Florida, and that of Florida is different from that of Berlin. So, it is essential to identify where your audience is mainly based, and then use that knowledge to optimize your emails.

5. Embrace full-on email automation

All things being equal, most of what I recommended above can be done with automation.

Most email services let you automate email timing, making it possible to send emails to different people at different times based on their time zone. They let you split test various elements of emails. They let you configure your emails in such a way that one event triggers another and the experience is different and personalized for each customer depending on what action they take. You want to familiarize yourself with, and make effective use of, these features.

In fact, some email services are already introducing artificial intelligence for email marketing in a way that does all the above and more. That said, it is important to realize that full-on automation is the future of email marketing. You should look into services like Infusionsoft, Active Campaign, Ontraport and a host of other relevant email service providers.